The field of this invention is in the cleaning of chimneys and especially those chimneys which have wood burning fireplaces or stoves although it is applicable to the cleaning of any chimney upon which deposits form as a result of combustion.
When burning wood in a fireplace, for example, there is a continual build-up of deposits, such as creosote, on the walls of the chimney connected to the fireplace. The more deposits which build up, the greater is the hazard of a fire developing in the chimney itself due to combustion of the deposits. It is therefore a safety procedure to periodically remove the deposits. A common conventional way of removing the deposits is by brushing. This can take various forms such as pulling a tight fitting brush through the chimney itself to knock off the deposits. This is fairly time consuming and not as satisfactory as desired. Some of the deposits on the chimney wall become very hard and are thus exceedingly difficult to remove by the conventional brush method.
In addition to the conventional method of removing the deposits as just described, another method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,041,779 which is a flue cleaning device for heating furnaces and as such is different from the cleaning of regular fireplace chimneys. That patent includes a plurality of chains which are loosely suspended from the arms 25 forming a spider carried by the vertical shaft 26 which is rotatable. This appears to be a permanent attachment to a flue and, as such, would not be suitable for a chimney sweep to use in cleaning chimneys in several different dwellings or buildings.